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Ink Spots Magazine, Florida
October 1994

by Bryan Tilford

OVER THE RHINE IN THE STUDIO

One hundred and seventy-five acres of rolling New England hillside, large blinking horses, unruly farm cats, blankets of stars, some recording gear and the rest of the barn. These are the surroundings for Over the Rhine when they recorded their latest album Eve on a farm in Massachusetts. Just the musicians instruments, microphone and the live take.

A three-story mansion in the French Quarter of New Orleans, full of ghosts and equipment which has seen its share of legends and talent is chosen for the mix. Over the Rhine wanted to bridge the gap between those unpredictable but pleasing accidents of live performance and the pre-meditated arrangements of the recording process. Linford Detweiler, bass and keyboards, expounds on this theory. "We basically just played live out on this farm. Nobody was around; it was like we were on another planet. New Orleans was the polar opposite of the sloping misty hills of Massachusetts. It's more of a gritty European city, with a voodoo underbelly, and sweaty pulse. This juxtaposition to me is a metaphor for our music because our singer [Karin Bergquist] has quite a lovely flowing voice and my fascination for literature and European writers adds a poetic undercurrent that can inform our music, but there are darker elements as well. Karin quite often will wear a fairly formal gown with combat boots--it's the same sort of colliding elements that play off of each other. She's a very gentle woman on the one hand, but push her too far and she'll take you out. I'd like to think that our music can be playful and easy going on sort of an immediate level, but if you look deeper, hopefully you may find an element of danger or subversiveness there somewhere."

Over the Rhine? The name of an old German neighborhood in Cincinnati, which is home to this band formed in the spring of '89. Over the Rhine typically oversees all artwork, produce themselves and pursue their own visions. I.R.S. President Jay Boberg agrees. "Why mess with it? You only change a group if it needs direction. Over the Rhine doesn't need direction, they know where they're going." Apparently they've known for sometime; their independent release Patience was good enough for I.R.S. to release practically untouched in June '93. The band has landed opening stints for Bob Dylan and Adrian Belew and frequented festivals in England and Holland. Recent touring has included European dates and a US tour which included seven weeks and 40 cities opening for Squeeze.

Linford describes an exhilarating moment at an outdoor festival in Holland. "There was a crowd of about 8,000 people gathered after dark and we were gearing up to play one of our live standards, 'If I'm Drowning.' A thunderstorm was approaching and as we started undressing this song the heavens opened and it started pouring rain--in biblical proportions. But instead of running for cover the crowd just sort of embraced the moment, bathing and dancing in the rain. It was very euphoric--one of those experiences that felt a lot bigger than the sum of the parts."

The band is planning an Eastern US tour this Fall. They admit they were once obsessed with touring Europe. "We thought we would have to leave Ohio pretty far behind to find adventure and discover what life was all about. But we've learned that people down the street are wrestling with the same angels and demons as they are anywhere."